THE INFANT LONDON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3197, 25 May 1909, Page 3

THE INFANT LONDON.

The beginnings of London are lost in the mists of history. In a paper read at the Surveyors' Institute (London) recently, Mr J. G. Head, a Fellow of the Institution, gave a most interesting speech of the growth of the city from pre-Roman times, v He believes that Lyndyn (or Lake-fort) was a considerable British settlement before the coming of the Romans. T.ie site was selected folks opportunities of defence and its commercial position. The Romans fortifi d Londinium, as they called it, and gradually a city of imposing architecture and considerable commercial importance grew up. The wealthy built luxurious villas, traces of which are to be found to-day. The town was laid out in rectangular blocks, a style very different to the haphazard direction the streets t;ok in later times. The population is estimated at from 35,000 lo 50,000 people. Un tie withdrawal of the Roman legions in 410, historical darkness descended or, London. All we know of the city's history for. 200 years is that the Saxon invaders drove back the Brians and Roman London was practically obliterated. The desolation was so complete that we have no record of any Roman building having survived, except the wall, which was in a ruinous condition. This is all the more remarkable when we rceflct that the Roman buildings | were noted for their substantial construction. The very lines of the Roman streets seem to have been t-lTaced. There is not even a name hfc of Roman or British origin, with the doubtful exceptions of Billingsgate, Ludgate, and Dowgate, and in these the termination is j Saxon. What was Hie cause of this extraordinary obliteration? Most historians think that the Saxons entered London .unopposed and found it waste and desolate. The approaches to it had been gradually closed by enemies, until at last the foodless inhabitants were compelled to abandon it and fly to Wales, leaving cottage, villa, and temple to rot to shapeless ruin. Thi?. however, hardly seems adequate to account for the disappearance of substantial Roman buildings. The fact remains , that the Saxons rebuilt the city. Whereas the Romans had concentrated within and around the walls, ; the Saxons settled in village com- ' immities round about--Islington, Clapham. VVapping, and others—which subsequently become absorbed in the growing city. In Alfred's time London became tha capital of the country. Tracing the subsequent growth of the city, Mr Head tells us j that in the twelfth century the : population was estimated at over j 60,000, and in the Tutor rimes at i 125,000. We find people of Qeeun Elizabeth's day thinking London too b'g and devising means for restricting its size. To day it is fifty times as big, and growing steadily. The County of London how comprises 117 squares miles, has 329 railway stations, contains 1,134 miles of streets/ and includes 5.000,000 people-—figures quoted by Mr Head to bring heme to his audience the immensity of the city. Outside the county area, of course, the tentacles of the suburbs are ever stretching out to grasp new land and population. The growth in value is no less extraordinary. In accordance witi an agreement made in the reign of Edward 1., the Corporation of London still pays six horse-shoes as rent for a piece of land near the Law Courts, the freehold of which is worth £3 lo £4, a square foot. Six-three years ago a property was let in Old Broad sreet at £3OO a year; to-day it is worth £3,000 a year. In 1858 a house in Tokenhouse yard.was let at £300; in 1893 it was pulled down and the land alone let for £1,250. Between 1860 and 1900 the price of freehold land near the Bank 'of England rose from £ls to £7O a J square foot. Yet there is a depres- '■ sion in London just now. It was [ estimate that the in spring of 1908 1 there were 50,000 vacant houses in ' the county, and in the city proper the : greatest difficulty is being experiened I by those who wish to sell or iet pro- j I perty. The business of letting fur- ] nished houses has been almost killed j j by the big hotels, ; and the improved | I transport facilities are taking city j ! workers further out of the town.